CH334 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS Course Syllabus - Dore Meinholtz

The first "lab" assignment will be a non-lab lab. I will give you some titration data, and you will write an Excel spreadsheet to solve it. I strongly encourage you to use this, modified as appropriate, throughout the rest of the semester. However, I will accept calculations which are not done with Excel . (I know that none of you would actually find yourselves writing up a lab in the small wee hours far away from all computers, and that your computer will never eat your work, and that the power will never go inconveniently out, and that viruses will never ever infect any system you may need to use . . . ) Incidentally, be aware that Excel is as unhelpful with significant figures as your calculator is. I expect you to report results, standard deviation, etc. in the regular labs to the correct sig. figs., regardless of what Excel tries to give you.

The labs will be given to you the first week of class. They will be available as a PDF file in Blackboard. The order in which they are done is up to you, after the first one. It is not necessary, and may be inadvisable, to do them in the book's order. Some of them are quite long, some of them are quite short. They will be due, three at a time, three times during the semester. If you wish, you may work on more than one lab at a time. (It will be very, very easy to get behind.) There may be the option of a 10th, extra credit lab. You do have the option of turning the first lab in early so as to see how I grade it before turning in the other two.

A strong word of warning. You will be responsible for making up most of the solutions and standardizing them as necessary, so virtually all of these labs have at least one extra, hidden part somewhere earlier on in the text. You can expect to need to spend the equivalent of two three-hour labs a week . Procrastination will catch up with you. Also, the accuracy of your result will be a part of the grade. Not only must you get an answer, but the grade will depend in part on close you have come to the right answer.

You do not have lab partners. Some solutions may be shared, some not. If a solution determines your final answer, which means that its concentration is somehow involved mathematically in the calculations, then it may not be shared. For example, an NaOH solution used to titrate to determine the amount of an acid may not be shared, but one that is only used to increase the pH of a solution may be shared. As a general rule, remember, if the concentration of a solution is used in the calculations, it cannot be shared. And I will take pts. off, so if in doubt, ask.

I expect you to keep a lab notebook. I will not grade it, but I will ask to see it at the end of a session and initial it as a record of your having actually been in lab. Ideally, a lab notebook is sufficiently thorough that someone you have never spoken with can reproduce exactly what you did, with what, and when. It is a legal document in industry and research. I am actually hoping that you will learn the hard way that it is easier than you think to forget what those numbers are that you scribbled down a month ago. Stray pages which get lost, and/or insufficiently identified numbers which you try to identify by back-calculation the day before labs are due, are things you are not likely to enjoy. Keep a bound notebook, and label everything carefully.

This course has "open lab," which means that, within reason and safety, when you come to lab, how often you come, and how long you stay, is your option. The usual safety rules apply, which will be restated in class and as often and as firmly as you make necessary (never work alone, always wear safety goggles, work only when science faculty is on the floor, no food or drink in lab. etc.) I will strongly suggest that you do not all try to come in and work at the same time, just so you have elbow room. I will wander in and out of the lab often, and I am in my office or somewhere on the second floor most of the time, and will expect you to come find me whenever you need me. Quietly yelling is acceptable, as long as it does not bother anyone else.

Open lab is a privilege. It indicates a respect for your abilities and a trust of your common sense. You earn this as upper-classpersons. This privilege will not be abused.

The lab write-ups will be similar to those in Instrumental. They will consist of a Procedure section, a Results and Calculations section or sections, a Discussion, and References. Although your data must be your own, you may seek assistance in deciding what to do with it. In fact, I expect you to, and since I am the only one here who knows exactly what you're supposed to be doing . . . and will be grading the write-ups . . . . and am somewhere on the second floor most of the time . . . . .

Some science faculty wish you to follow a very tightly prescribed format, such as that of a journal article. I do not require you to do that. But I will be looking for the following:

Procedure--Tell me everything, in detail, that you actually did, whether it conformed with the directions you were given or not. Also, as much as possible, tell me why you did each step. Outline format is not acceptable, since this is a writing intensive course.

Results/Calculations--You may make these separate sections or not, as you prefer. Include all raw data, so that if I need to refigure your results to see how close you are to the right answer, I can do so. (Yes, I will do this if you get the calculations wrong, and if you give me the numbers to work with. It is possible to receive no points for the calculations, and full credit for accuracy of results if I have your data to recalculate.) You may use sample calculations, spreadsheet, and data tables. Be sure to include qualitative results as well as quantitative results. (I am especially fond of colors.) If you use spread-sheet,which I encourage you to do, be sure to include sufficient information for me to decipher which numbers are what, and how you put them together in the calculations. It would be advisable to actually show me the formulas used. If you have made mistake(s) in the calculations, I will look for what and where you did so, so that I can give you partial credit. However, if you haven't given me any hints to work with as to what you did, I can't do much in your favor with partial credit.

Discussion--This may be short for some labs, and long for others. It is where you may compare your results to what you think you should have gotten, and attempt to explain any discrepancies. Problems which could have led to inaccuracy may be discussed here as well.

References--Since you will always be following a procedure provided to you, you will always have at least one reference. In addition, if you cite any literature values, you need to reference the sources here. Literature values are cited as if they were quotes.